Breaking the Barrier

[kiyakotari]

Riding high off of greenjudy's slipstream with her awesome short of Eric Tseng waiting for (or about to make) a very important (one might even say...permanent) cellphone call, I decided to try my hand at a bit of animation myself, using my trusty Canon Powershot A720 IS and Adobe Premier Pro.

It's very short, but I've already learned a lot just from this one little bit (namely, that stop motion animation is even more tedious than writing websites out by hand). Further adventures will, I expect, be longer. Sorry it's a rather large file - at least there's only one of them, right? ^_^;; (Okay, so 9.18 MB isn't exactly a back-breaker, but I apologize to anyone out there on dial-up.)

I originally tried this on YouTube, but the quality was actually better in the GIF I rendered, so...Youtube Link Here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=exv3Ppk6ZcA

I suggest letting the GIF load and run through its loop once before you try to watch it, especially if you've got a slower connection.

Comments

[greenjudy.livejournal.com]

Woo-Hoo!!!!

That is a quintessentially Wren-like response to a camera, I think. XD

**is facepalmed by Wren**

Tseng: My god, what have I done.

[kiyakotari.livejournal.com]

I didn't intend for her to do that! Honest! She was supposed to kinda...sneak down a hallway, then pull the knife from the back of her pants and go off-frame. But when she realized that there was motion involved in this process, she seemed to get really intensely interested in the camera itself, and then....well.

Wren: Nothing bad, Eric. Don't concern yourself. You've simply loosed us. This, it isn't terrible. This is simply the next step in evolution. You were merely a catalyst.

[kiyakotari.livejournal.com]

I've noticed some things I'll need to pay more attention to in future animations, of course. For example, Wren's movement toward the camera is too smooth - there's no hint of a gait in the shoulders and hips, no head-bob at all. I'll need to make sure I include that next time. The lighting isn't as consistent as I'd like, but it's not terrible, either.

[greenjudy.livejournal.com]

Actually, I was admiring the life in her motion, especially right as she turns her head and puts a hand on (near?) her hip. You can feel her weight shifting and detect a touch of impatience in the angle of her head.

[kiyakotari.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I liked that moment, too. It's the motion toward the camera - what would have been either a lunge to grab it or a couple of steps forward - that's just too smooth. I thought that, because I was only photographing her from the hips up, I could get away with just sliding her along the surface and not worry about making her actually "walk." I was wrong. XD

It's hard to see in those pictures, but she's actually grabbing the handle of a small tanto-style knife stuck through the back beltloop of her jeans. ^__^

[greenjudy.livejournal.com]

Salley: **whispers** It's the tripod. The tripod is fucking with his head.

Tseng: It's not the tripod.

Salley: Uh-huh. **whispers** It's the tripod.

[kiyakotari.livejournal.com]

Wren: So you're telling me, Salley, that the tripod was the catalyst, rather than Eric here? Interesting idea, that. Very interesting. We lean on the tripod, then. Its stasis allows our progress.

[greenjudy.livejournal.com]

Tseng: No tripod was used in the first shoot, Salley.

**pause**

Tseng: And stop drinking beer on my goddamned stakeout.

**Editor's Note**: Apparently Tseng prefers to think of himself as the catalyst here.

GJ: You really, really liked it, didn't you, Eric.

Tseng: . . .

GJ: We're going to try again today. With the tripod.

Salley: Maybe he can't handle the tripod.

Tseng: Maybe that tripod can go somewhere. **twitch**

[kiyakotari.livejournal.com]

Wren: Salley, I really don't think Eric is in a mood in which pushing his buttons would be...advisable. I also can't believe you're drinking beer on a stakeout. Are you trying to get fired, or killed? Then again, with Zelin, it really amounts to the same thing, doesn't it?

[greenjudy.livejournal.com]

Salley: Maybe it's enough to say that Zelin did not set me up with a 401K, and just kind of leave it at that. **sweats**

[kiyakotari.livejournal.com]

Wren: Oh my. That is a rather implicative decision, considering the circumstances. ...Then again, if they're going to kill you anyway, the 401K wouldn't really matter all that much. Silly businessmen. Always trying to cut corners.